Electroculture

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As electroculture a number of methods are called, whose aim is to influence electricity plant growth.

Initial considerations date back to the 18th century, for example by Giambatista Beccaria (1775) and Pierre Bertholon de Saint-Lazare (1783). While the influence of atmospheric electricity on plants was of interest first, William Sturgeon used the term "electro-culture" in 1846 to refer to useful plants.

The Finnish physicist Selim Lemström made extensive experiments with grain and other crops. He had observed that there was a connection between increased growth of trees and years with strong aurora borealis , he attributed this to electrical effects. His experiments, which he published in 1904, gave a predominantly positive result; he claimed that he could in some cases significantly increase the yields of crops.

As a result, numerous researchers in France, Germany and other countries, as well as various agricultural institutes, dealt with electroculture and hoped to be able to use it to increase agricultural yields. How well-known and widespread research on electroculture was is shown by examples such as the first international congress on electroculture, which was held in Reims, France as early as 1912.

Recent studies deal with the influence of various electrical phenomena on plant physiology . Effects of ions generated by electricity were found. Another hypothesis is that plants are damaged by the strong electrical fields and thereby stimulated to stronger growth. Goldsworthy postulates that the plants have adapted to the electricity of a thunderstorm and responded by preparing for increased water intake.

  • Electrodes in garden soil with compost

  • A: without electricity, B: with electricity

  • B: without power, A: with power (swapped in the original)

  • A: without electricity, B: with electricity

Pictures from Walter Häntzschel: The influence of electricity on the growth of plants . In: Inventions and Experiments . Volume II, W. Herlet, Leipzig 1906.

literature

Early work on the influence of electricity on plants:

  • Giambatista Beccaria: Della elltricita terrestre atmosferica a Cielo Sereno . Turin 1775.
  • Pierre Bertholon de Saint-Lazare: De l'eléctricite des vegetaux . Paris 1783.
  • Jan Ingenhousz : Lettre à M. Molitor au sujet de l'influence de l'électricité atmospheric sur les végétaux . J. Physique 1788.

Studies on electroculture and increasing agricultural yields:

  • William Sturgeon: On the electro-culture of farm crops . J. Highland and Agr. Soc. 1846, pp. 262-299.
  • Louis Grandeau : De l'influence de 1'électricité atmospheric sur la nutrition des végétaux . Ann. Chimie Vol. 16, 1879, pp. 145-226.
  • Selim Lemström: Electroculture: Increasing the harvest yield of all cultivated plants through electrical treatment; shown on the basis of several years of trials , Leipzig, 1902, Weigel-Verlag
  • Selim Lemström: Electricity in agriculture and horticulture . Electrician Publications, London 1904.
  • Gustav Gassner : On the question of electro culture . Ber. dtsch Bot. Ges. 1907, Vol. 25, pp. 26-38.
  • Vernon Herbert Blackman : Field experiments in electro-culture . J. Agr. Sci. 1924, Vol. 14, pp. 240-257.
  • Ernst Tamm : Habilitation thesis on problems of electroculture, 1927

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b H. A. Pohl, GW Todd: Electroculture for Crop Enhancement by Air Anions . In: Int. J. Biometeor . tape 25 , no. 4 , 1981, p. 309-321 .
  2. ^ AD Moore: Electrostatics . Verlag Chemie, 1972, p. 165, ISBN 3-527-25391-2 .
  3. ^ LE Murr: Mechanism of Plant-Cell Damage in an Electrostatic Field . In: Nature . Volume 201, No. 4926, March 28, 1964.
  4. ^ Andrew Goldsworthy: Effects of Electrical and Electromagnetic Fields on Plants and Related Topics . In: Alexander G. Volkov (Ed.): Plant Electrophysiology . Springer, 2006, ISBN 3-540-32717-7 , pp. 247 .